Welcome to October!
September delivered several exciting announcements for Microsoft partners, with AI continuing to dominate customer conversations and investment priorities. From new partner specialisations and marketplace acceleration programs to the next evolution of Copilot, Microsoft is continuing to invest heavily in helping partners deliver customer outcomes through AI.
Frontier Partner Specialisation Now Live
Microsoft has launched the new Frontier Partner Specialization, recognising partners that can design, deploy, govern and secure AI solutions across the Microsoft ecosystem. This new specialisation spans Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure AI, GitHub Copilot, Security and Compliance workloads, helping partners demonstrate expertise in one of the fastest-growing technology segments.
Partners who attain the specialisation gain access to additional Microsoft benefits, co-sell opportunities, go-to-market resources and enhanced differentiation with customers. As organisations continue investing in AI, validated expertise is becoming an increasingly important factor in winning new business.
New Marketplace Growth Opportunities
Microsoft has also introduced Frontier Accelerate for Marketplace, a new program designed to help partners build, publish and scale AI-powered applications and services through Microsoft Marketplace.
The program provides access to skilling, Microsoft expertise, investments and support designed to accelerate marketplace success. For partners developing intellectual property or looking to expand recurring revenue opportunities, Marketplace continues to be an area worth exploring.
Copilot Continues to Evolve
Microsoft announced the next generation of Copilot, bringing together Home, Code and Autopilot into a single connected experience. This reflects Microsoft's vision that AI will increasingly move beyond chat experiences and become integrated into day-to-day business processes and workflows.
Check out the blogs from our AI & CoPilot experts!
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The New Copilot is Here: The Opportunity for Microsoft Partners | Microsoft Corporate
New Opportunities for Nonprofit Customers
Microsoft has announced enhanced nonprofit promotions for Microsoft 365 Copilot, allowing eligible nonprofit customers to access additional promotional offers through the end of the calendar year.
This creates another opportunity for partners to introduce AI solutions into the nonprofit sector while helping organisations increase productivity and deliver greater impact with limited resources.
Microsoft Ignite is on its way again!
Microsoft Ignite returns 17-20 November 2026, offering partners the opportunity to explore the latest innovations across AI, Copilot, Security, Azure, Data, Business Applications and Modern Work. Whether attending in person or online, Ignite is a great way to gain technical insights, discover upcoming Microsoft investments and identify new opportunities to support customer transformation journeys
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Whether you're looking to build a Copilot practice, explore Azure funding opportunities, support Azure migrations, maximise available promotions, understand Partner Center updates, review designation requirements or identify new customer growth opportunities, the Dicker Data Microsoft team is here to help.
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